


Trick or Treat, Little Quakerider

by closemyeyesandleap



Series: Families of SHIELD [5]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Costumes, F/M, Feels, Fluff, Halloween, Team as Family, Unspecified Future Time
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-10
Updated: 2018-10-10
Packaged: 2019-07-29 06:59:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,048
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16259036
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/closemyeyesandleap/pseuds/closemyeyesandleap
Summary: Daisy and Robbie's daughter wants to dress up like Ghost Rider for Halloween.Robbie has other ideas.





	Trick or Treat, Little Quakerider

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Fierysky](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fierysky/gifts).



> When I saw Quakerider Autumn Fics was a thing, this idea immediately jumped into my head. 
> 
> For Fierysky for always being so amazingly encouraging as well as being an incredible writer.

“Have you decided what you want to be for Halloween, _mija_?”

Gaby giggled, her fingers curling around Robbie’s rough hand as she smiled up at him.

He laughed. “What? Don’t tell me you want to be that crazy snowman from Frozen. What was it? Zoloft?”

“ _Olaf_ , papi!” The five-year-old protested, pulling her dad along as they walked through the neighborhood. She giggled and shook her head. “Nope.” 

“Well that’s good then. What do you want to be?”

“I wanna be you, papi!”

Robbie’s steps faltered as he tried to hide his reaction. “What? You want to be a mechanic for Halloween?”

“No silly! I wanna be you, a superhero.”

Gabby bounced on the balls of her feet, her tennis shoes lighting up blue and green as she did so.

Robbie, on the other hand, felt a shadow pass over him.

Gaby didn’t know about the Ghost Rider, not really. She’d seen his eyes fill with fire, the soft glow on his skin, but she’d never seen his skin peel back from his face to reveal a burning skull.

Nor would she ever, if he had anything to do with it.

All Gaby knew was that he fought bad guys. The way she understood it, he had power over fire the same way her mom controlled earthquakes. 

His stomach prickled with shame as he thought of the misplaced pride his daughter had in him. 

“ _Princesa_ , that’s… don’t you want to be something else?” 

“Nooo papi,” she insisted. “I want to be you!” 

“Oh?”

“Cause you’re the bestest!” 

He shook his head. “I don’t think so, Gabs.”

Her head fell. When she looked back at him, her eyes were wide and pleading. “Please? _Porfa_ , please, please, please papi.”

Robbie’s heart sank. Everyone said that Gaby was a spitting image of him, with freckles covering her tan skin and her jet black hair.

Her eyes, though, her eyes? They were all Daisy.

If those puppy-dog eyes were irresistible in the face of a woman in her early forties, in a five-year-old, they were lethal. 

Pulling together all his powers of resistance, he shook his head once more. “If you want to be a superhero, how about you be Mommy? I’ll make you some cool gauntlets and everything.”

Gaby’s shoulders drooped at his refusal. She considered his offer, though. “What are gone- gone- gonlets?”

“Gauntlets. Her arm things.” 

Gaby sighed. “OK, papi.” 

Robbie tried to push away his guilt at his daughter’s still-disappointed posture. That’s how it would have to be. 

He did terrible things as the Ghost Rider. He wasn’t worthy of Gaby’s innocent adoration. She shouldn’t want to be anything like him. 

He tried to warm her up to the idea. “Mommy will be so excited to see you! Let’s keep it a surprise, OK? _Nuestra sorpesa_.” He pulled his finger across his lips, pretending to zip them shut.

Gaby giggled and did the same. “OK!”

* * *

“I’m back!” Robbie called, entering what he swore had been his, Daisy’s, and Gaby’s home only that morning.

Now, it looked more like a pumpkin full of black and orange had exploded on the walls and countertops.

Paper bats were hanging from the ceiling near the door, jack-o-lanterns lining the hallway leading to the kitchen. Every few feet was bowl with a different kind of candy, all humongous. Inside, he found Daisy surrounded by plates of fried chicken, nachos, and piles of cupcakes.

Robbie raised an eyebrow. “A ‘little Halloween get-together’?” He asked.

“Oh shut up, you love it,” Daisy teased. 

“Well…” Robbie joked. 

“Careful, or I won’t give you any cupcakes.”

He laughed. “In that case, it’s how I’ve always dreamed of decorating my house.” 

She handed him a cupcake. “Right answer.”

He took a bite and kissed her, his mouth covered in orange frosting.

As he pulled away, Robbie looked around the kitchen again. Daisy always went a little overboard as far as holidays were concerned, but this was even more than usual. He supposed it stemmed from an unusually crisis-free spell at SHIELD. The fact Gaby was getting old enough to remember these celebrations probably played a big role, too. 

“You get Gaby’s costume?” Daisy asked. 

Robbie fiddled with the bag in his hands. “Yeah.” 

He’d originally planned just to put Gaby in a long-sleeve black shirt, black jeans, and her tiny pair of combat boots and then build her a little pair of gauntlets out of metal, but his guilt over refusing her original request propelled him to go all-in.

Fitzsimmons had both been thrilled to make a kindergartener-sized copy of Daisy’s combat suit, Simmons grumbling that her own daughter had been less than thrilled with any of her costume ideas. (“Rosalind Franklin would have been a superb costume choice, thank you very much!”)

The gauntlets, though, Robbie had insisted on making himself. On top of his combat ops, he’d taken over as a SHIELD mechanic. He used the materials there to build tiny gauntlets to fit his daughter’s hands that shook gently when the wearer opened her fingers wide. 

He was so excited for Gaby to try them on. 

As if on cue, Gaby burst into the kitchen. “My costume! Can I try it on? Did you get the ‘got its’––”

“Whoa now, _sorpresa_ , remember?” Robbie laughed, sweeping the little girl into his arms. He glanced at Daisy, but she’d started the mixer for yet another batch of cupcakes, and he didn’t think she’d heard.

“Oops,” Gaby stage-whispered. 

Robbie carried Gaby into her bedroom and helped her try on her costume. 

Gaby squealed as she discovered how the gauntlets shook, and Robbie felt his heart warm. Maybe he wasn’t half bad as a dad, after all. 

“You want to show Mommy?” 

Gaby bounced up and down. “Yeah!” 

They walked into the kitchen hand in hand.

“Look, Mommy! Surprise!” 

In hindsight, Robbie realized, he should have told Daisy to put down her baking before bringing Gaby out. She almost dropped the mixing bowl. 

“Do you like it, do you like it, do you like it?” Gaby asked, bouncing. Daisy glanced at Robbie before pulling a wide smile onto her face.

“Wow, sweetie!”

“I’m you, Mommy!” 

Daisy laughed. “Really? No way! You look 100 times tougher than I do.”

Gaby shook her head. “I’m you. Look, I got your gaunt-elets!” 

Robbie grinned. Well, Gaby was getting closer, anyway.

“You look awesome, baby,” Daisy pulled her daughter into a hug. 

Afterwards, Gaby ran to the bathroom to examine herself in the mirror. Daisy looked up at Robbie. “Was this her idea?”

Robbie shifted his feet. “Sort of. She wanted to be a superhero. I was the one who suggested that it be you, and… well, you saw. She liked the idea.” 

Daisy nodded, and half-whispered. “I don’t know how I feel about it. I don’t— I don’t think she should try to be like me.”

Robbie shook his head. “Nah, it’s perfect. I’d be so proud if she grows to be even half the woman you are.”

* * *

At 6:30 sharp, the guests started rolling in. Coulson came first, dressed from head to toe as a pirate, accompanied by May, as a ninja.

“May, you were supposed to come in costume!” Daisy protested as she pulled May into a hug.

“Ahoy, where’s me wee granddaughter?” Coulson called, waving around what should have been his left hand, but what he had replaced with a hook for the occasion. 

Gaby giggled and threw herself into Coulson’s embrace. He scooped her up with his right arm. 

YoYo and Mack came next, dressed as a male and female Waldo. 

Their eight-year-old boys, Alphie and Antoine, dashed in after them, wearing capes. 

“Awesome! King-sized Snickers!” Alphie called to his twin.

“Hey! _Saluden a sus tíos, mis traviesos,_ ” Elena called. Say hi to your aunt and uncle, my troublemakers. 

Antoine pouted. “Sorry. Hi Aunt Daisy. Hi Uncle Robbie.”

YoYo and Mack’s twelve-year-old daughter Rosita followed, whispering with eleven-year-old Samantha Fitzsimmons, Sam as a witch and Rosita as an angel, like night and day.

“Daisy! We brought biscuits!” Simmons called as she and Fitz entered with their son, Leo.

“Simmons!” Daisy rolled her eyes, taking the cookies. 

“Hey, that’s what I said!” Fitz groaned from his plump chocolate-chip cookie costume.

“I think we’re cute,” Jemma protested, curtsying her milk-dress.

“I didn’t say you weren’t!” Daisy winked. 

Leo, dressed as Captain Marvel, had dropped his dad’s hand and walked over to Coulson to clamber for his attention, too.

“Gaby! You’re a superhero, too! Wanna go play?” Leo asked when he saw her. He and Gaby were in the same class at school.

“Yeah!” Gaby exclaimed. They ran to the living room and started pretending to fight imaginary foes. Gaby paused and studied the scene. “One sec.”

She ran to her bedroom and came back with a few stuffed animals, scattering them over the couch. “Let’s go!”

She and Leo continued to play. She stuck out her hand towards a particularly devious looking lion and felt the shaking of her gauntlet. Gaby concentrated on the lion, giving him a tough face as she focused all of her imaginary powers on him.

Across the room, Daisy finished greeting Piper and saw her daughter’s play. She hesitated a moment and then raised her finger, giving the slightest of quake.

The lion was pushed back three feet on the couch.

Gaby squealed, delighted. She swung her head around and grinned at her mom. 

Daisy chuckled and returned to her guests.

* * *

An hour later, everyone was gathering for dinner and Daisy went looking for her daughter to bring her back from her play. She found her sitting on the floor, leaning against an armchair, looking sad.

“Where’s Leo?” Daisy asked.

“Auntie Jemma told him to get washed up to eat,” Gaby replied glumly. 

“What’s wrong, sweetheart?” Daisy asked, lowering herself to the floor next to Gaby.

Gaby glanced up at her mom. She really didn’t want to hurt her mommy’s feelings, but she was feeling sad.

“Nothin’.”

“You sure?”

Gaby shrugged. “I wanted to be papi, but he didn’t want me to. You’re really cool!” she hastily assured Daisy, “but I wanted to be the kind of superhero papi is. It’s stupid.”

Daisy gave her a small smile. “Oh, sweetie, it’s not stupid at all.” Daisy could only imagine how Robbie must have felt when Gaby had told him she wanted to dress up as him. Even though he used his powers for good just as much as she did—and she had killed almost as much on missions as he over the years—he was still ashamed for his daughter to think about what he was. 

Daisy sighed. She wanted to show him that he didn’t need to be. That he was a man she was proud to call the father of her child.

She also wanted her little girl to have a happy Halloween.

“You know what, Gabs? I’ve got an idea.”

She took Gaby by the gauntleted hand and led her to the laundry room where they store the craft materials. She fumbled around in a drawer and pulled out some white duct tape.

She measured out careful portions and laid them gently on the front of Gaby’s suit jacket to mimic Robbie’s. She thought for a moment and led Gaby to her bedroom and found some orange ribbon. She braided it into Gaby’s hair in pigtails.

“Look,” she urged Gaby.

Gaby grinned. “Fire!” 

“Yep.”

Gaby jumped up and down. “Yay!”

“See, now you’re a little bit of both of us.”

“Can I show papi?”

“Of course!” Daisy exclaimed, and she followed Gaby’s excited steps out into the kitchen. 

“Look, papi, look!” Gaby ran into Robbie’s arms.

Robbie’s eyes met Daisy’s. She smiled at him. 

“It’s what she wanted. Besides, I’d be so happy if she grows up to be half the person _you_ are.”

Robbie felt like his heart was in his throat, blocking his speech. He didn’t want this… did he? But seeing Gaby running around, orange pigtails bouncing as she pretended to quake Leo and dodge his mimed bursts of energy he sent back, he felt like it was… right, somehow. 

He’d never be proud of who he was with the Rider. 

But he knew he’d always never stop trying to be the man his girls thought he was.


End file.
